Rewarding Everyone

Today will be my last class of PC Repair, at least for this semester.  And I should be getting an A in the class.  I only took two classes this semester, but made certain that I got an A in each of them.  I studied and studied and read the expensive books I had to buy and earned my grades.  I’m not quite ready to get a degree yet, but once I am, I will have earned it!  But there are some idiots here in town who think you should still be part of a graduation even if you don’t earn it!

Apparently a lot of students here in Clark County (That’s the county where Las Vegas and Henderson are located in the state of Nevada) have been traditionally allowed to go through graduation and receive a “certificate of attendance” or something like that if they don’t pass some state proficiency test and qualify to graduate from high school. 

Now the graduation rate in Clark County is pretty low.  I guess Nevada ranks around #49 out of the 50 states in education.  Hard to believe that there is a state dumber than Nevada.  I can now understand why when I go to a McDonald’s the kid running the cash register screws up my order, or why the kid running the register at Walmart can’t figure out how to count change back to me if I pay in cash.

Now I’ve heard all the arguments about how some people aren’t good taking tests, and how it’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid, and how it’s not right to let some kid go to a graduation with his friends just because he or she didn’t pass some test.  But I’ve also been told that they start giving these proficiency tests in the sophomore year of high school and the kids have three years to pass them.  THREE YEARS!  If you fail the first time, they can put you in special classes to help you study to take the exam again.  There are tutors and you can easily find the things you need to study for these exams.  And the students are given chance after chance to re-take failed portions, but people don’t think their kids need to do that.

Why work hard for something when you can just get it for nothing?  So many parents are upset saying “My kid deserves this” and “My kid deserves that”.  Your kid deserves the chance to succeed, but if you don’t do the work, you don’t deserve the rewards!  What the hell happened?  When did we become a bunch of whiners who think you should get a reward just for participation?

So what do these kids tell an employer when they’re trying to get a job and they are asked if they’ve graduated from high school?  Do they proudly show their certificate of attendance and say they went to school once in a while?  “Yeah, I was there to see all my friends.  I may show up at work once in a while, but don’t expect much from me.”  Would you hire someone who said this?  I guess some places have.  You don’t want mom and dad suing your company for discrimination against your kid because he didn’t graduate!

The whole controversy now is that the school district will no longer allow these under achievers to attend the graduations and get their “certificate of attendance”.  I saw one woman ranting that her kid had a “3.4” grade point average, and should still be allowed to graduate even though she didn’t pass the proficiency tests.  That makes me wonder how she got such an average in the first place.  Did she cheat?  Or take classes like “How to unbutton a shirt”?  How does the girl have a high grade point average without being able to pass basic proficiency tests?  I know we want to protect our children, but come on!

I think the school district is doing the right thing.  Can you imagine after a few law suits colleges having to hand out certificates of attendance during actual college degree ceremonies?  Maybe we can have hospitals full of doctors who didn’t pass any exams, but were registered at a medical school and have an attendance certificate from there?  You can have a fire department full of fireman who may, or may not show up if your house is on fire.  They have a certificate of attendance and may, or may not feel like actually fighting fires. 

We already have shops full of cashiers who need a calculator because I’m trying to buy one watermelon that’s on sale 2 for $10 and the clerk can’t figure out how much to charge me for just one.  Must we keep dumbing down our society?  I’m glad I went back to college and am proud of the grades I will receive for this semester.  And I’m proud to have actually earned my grades.

Don’t bother trying to rant away at me about what your child deserves or doesn’t deserve.  I don’t care.  When I enlisted in the Air Force you had to be a high school graduate.  Not a high school “attendee”, but a GRADUATE!  I had to give an actual copy of my diploma to my recruiter.  I had to earn my way in.  And even if they allow kids to enlist without graduating, you’ll have to actually pass Air Force school courses to get a good military career assignment.  Also keep in mind the Air Force tests for you to get promoted past a certain rank.  No “certificate of attendance” for that! 

Ok, my rant about this is over.  I just thought I’d write a bit about what was going on here.  I’ll go back to reading the other news stories about drunk drivers, shootings, and stabbings now.  While I’m doing that, take a look at a clip from the movie Idiocracy.  This is where we’re headed.

Where's my money?

I'm a blue collar kind of guy.  I work so I can eat.  Well, eat and entertain myself, and write, and on and on and on.  And when I go to work, there is a time clock there.  Before I start work, I clock in.  When my shift ends, I clock out.  There is also a "sign in book" that sits near the time clock.  Before each shift, I sign the book and write the hours I'll work for that night.  That way if the time clock somehow screws up, the book will still show my hours.

I'm apparently one of the few who bother to clock in and out where I work.  Now I have to sit at work and be lectured because some other employees don't bother with the time clock, or even the sign in book.  They show up, hang out, and then go home.  Then when it comes payday and they don't get any money, they start trying to say the casino and security managers are screwing them out of their money.

"I wasn't paid for last week!  This isn't fair!"

"Did you clock in and sign in for the week?"

"I don't remember!  But you have to pay me anyway!"

So now this idiot wants paid for hours that there is no proof at all that he worked.  "I said so" is not proof you worked!  This is supposed to be a job for adults!  And yet a good amount of the people I work with aren't even responsible enough to use a time clock!  It's not that hard!  And since there is a security briefing before the shift starts, and since most of the employees line up and clock in before the briefing, you really look even more stupid when you aren't clocking in!

To be fair, some of these guys who don't clock in show up to work late for most shifts.  So much so the director of security had to put out a memo that you're no longer allowed to show up late.  Too bad no one will bother to enforce that.

And so finance where I work have their hands full trying to pay people who don't clock in and won't use the sign in book.  It's way too much trouble to do that!  That's just way too hard!  Some days I really wonder how some of these people show up to work and stay upright.  Isn't it too much trouble to stand up, or sit up in a chair, too?  Geez!

Land of the Dense

     Hi, and welcome to fabulous Las Vegas!

     Las Vegas is Wonderland!  You can come here and get as drunk as you want, do anything you like, and nothing bad will ever happen to you!

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A man has been critically injured after falling from an escalator on the Las Vegas Strip.
  
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Laura Meltzer said the man fell about 30 feet from an escalator leading to a bridge near Caesar's and the Bellagio casino around 4:30 a.m. Friday.
  
Meltzer said the 39-year-old man was a French national in town for a convention. His identity has not been released.
  
He was reportedly with a group of people and attempted to stand on the railing when he fell.
  
Meltzer said alcohol appears to be involved.




Oh.  Ok, that doesn't look so good.  I can't believe that you'd injure yourself if you get really drunk and try to stand on the handrail of a moving escalator!  How unfair of Las Vegas to injure this person!  You'd think that drunk people can do anything!  Or at least drunk people think they can do anything.  VEGAS, BABY!


That's just one idiot though, right?  I mean, who does something like that?  You're pretty safe here crossing the street at least, right?

Pedestrian killed in Las Vegas Strip accident identified

Posted: Apr. 29, 2011 | 10:37 a.m.BY MIKE BLASKY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A man who died Thursday after being struck by a driver on the Las Vegas Strip was identified Friday.

Russell Barnet Fix III, 58, of Las Vegas, was struck and killed by a 1998 Ford F-150 truck driven by Aleesha C. Daly, 28, at 12:10 a.m. Thursday.

She was arrested by Las Vegas police on suspicion of drunken driving.

The collision happened on Las Vegas Boulevard just outside the Four Seasons Hotel.

Police said Fix had been in a crosswalk, but then entered the right travel lane and headed toward a bus stop. He was jaywalking when struck by the truck, police said.

Daly was booked into the Clark County jail. She is being held on a $2,000 bond.

Oh.  So even jaywalking is dangerous here?  Geez!  Vegas...baby?  It was probably the guy's fault for jaywalking.  Wait...the girl was driving drunk too, wasn't she?  Wow...

So I guess Las Vegas isn't the safe haven stupid people think it is, is it?  Now I don't feel as safe as I did before I started writing this.